Charity walks in Panama City

We have been here for 4 weeks and have done 3 charity walks - never booking ahead of time, just seeing that the event was setting up and going up and buying a T-shirt or bib. One of the biggest differences between these events and those in the U.S. is how affordable they are - we spent about $70 for the 3 events. $10 each for t-shirts at 2 events and $10 each for 2 bibs each for the 3k (so we did 6k). My Spanish is not great, but people generally get the idea when you point and hold up dollars.

The first was the Susie Thayer cancer fundraiser - nice 5K walk with music, tons of people, snacks, and some free items. Super well organized and a ton of water available - key in this heat.

The second was a suicide prevention walk - we actually didn’t stay for the walk part because it seemed like many people were just going off on their own, so we did the same. Still, nice to have donated to a good cause.

The third was the Relevo por la Vida - essentially a charity walk for childhood cancer treatments (I believe). The music was pumping and most walkers were sponsored by corporations, but there was an area you could just walk up and get a bib. It was well organized and had areas for bikes, dog walking, running, and walking. It closed down the Cinta Costerra 3 bridge to everything. Bibs were only $5 - I think we could also select a specific child to sponsor, but we preferred for it to just go to the general fund. Unfortunately, the space to get non-sponsored bibs was right next to a very loud stage, so I couldn’t hear much.

Turned out this one went 24 hours - so we could have gotten up early and done it again this morning. Had we known, we would have, but our morning walk was a shorter one (since we did 14K yesterday) and we didn’t have any water gear or longer walking items.

There are also numerous races: look at Panama Runners Association events and Circuito City. We saw these events, but didn’t participate since they were more ‘races’, but another option. This parking lot is one area they seem to really set up a ton of events at. The other area is in old town near Cinta Costera 3, but that is mostly bike events.